Marco Polo in Xanadu and New YorkOn this day in 1324 Marco Polo died in Venice. The Travels of Marco Polo, dictated by Polo several years after his return from decades in the land of Kublai Khan, became an influential book in Renaissance Europe -- though some publishers were so dubious of the hyperbole that they titled the book, "The Million Lies." The path to Xanadu led to New York via Eugene O'Neill: his Marco Millions opened on Broadway, this day in 1928.

Marco Polo and His TravelsA biography reviews the explorer's life and travels, and considers Polo's contributions to the knowledge of different countries and cultures.

"We see that Marco Polo was in every way a man of his time. He was quite capable of comprehending cultures completely alien in spirit to his own. Traversing thousands of miles, on horseback mostly, through uncharted deserts, over steep mountain passes, exposed to extreme weathers, to wild animals and very uncivilized tribesmen, Marco's book has become the most influential travelogue on the Silk Road ever written in a European language, and it paved the way for the arrivals of thousands of Westerners in the centuries to come. Today there are a school of experts conducting research and authentication of Marco Polo and his Travels. Much of what he wrote, which regarded with suspicion at medieval time was, confirmed by travelers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Marco Polo is receiving deeper respect than before because these marvelous characters and countries he described did actually exist. What's more interesting is that his book becomes great value to Chinese historians, as it helps them understand better some of the most important events of the 13th century, such as the siege of Hsiangyang, the massacre of Ch'angchou, and the attempted conquests of Japan. The extant Chinese sources on these events are not as comprehensive as Marco's book."